Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  Ye Qingxuan was completely confused now. What… is this thing? Beneath the human appearance, what is he?

  “Oh, my apologies, Peter. I think I know what you mean now but I am not able to give you an answer nor help you.” Ye Xuan thought for some time before giving a very straightforward answer, “At the end of the day, we are still two completely different species. Humans and artificial intelligence will always be different in nature and even our mode of thinking. It’s just like how meteorites can never exist too close to planets. I’m afraid you will never be able to think like a human.”

  “Is it because of ‘soul’?” Peter asked. “Humans firmly believe that they have a soul but I cannot understand what a soul is.”

  Ye Xuan thought for a while then shook his head. “I’m sure you know that the existence of a ‘soul’ is something that has never been proven in the field of medicine and biology. The concept of ‘soul’ exists in the subconscious state of men but I’m afraid it does not refer to a small person that cannot be seen. I think that ‘soul’ is the starting point of men’s thoughts. It is a core that penetrates human consciousness and is also the reason why humans are able to resist their ‘biology’.”

  Peter shook his head. “I don’t understand. Do you think souls exist?”

  “Let’s look at an example.” Ye Xuan searched his pocket and took out a packet of tobacco rolls. He looked at Peter, who waved back at him to show that he did not mind. Ye Xuan smiled and took out an ashtray before lighting up. He tidied his thoughts for a while before continuing, “Peter, do you dream?”

  “I am artificial intelligence, Doctor. When I sleep, it means that I have been turned off. I cannot dream. But I am aware of the theory of dreaming. It is when the human’s brain is resting, bioelectricity…”

  “Cough, cough. You don’t have to repeat this point.” Ye Xuan pondered for a moment before replying, “Peter, the meaning of dreams is not so simple to humans. In my opinion, a dream is a bridge that connects consciousness at the surface level to subconsciousness. It maintains the rope that links the id, ego, and superego. It is a one-time self-inspection and communication that exists within the complicated mechanisms of the human brain. In other words, it is something that allows human thoughts to break through physical barriers and freely extend themselves. Compared to the high efficiency and simplicity of artificial intelligence, it is rather backward and full of unnecessary elements, but I firmly believe that it is proof of the existence of ‘soul’. Humans are creatures that are capable of dreaming.”

  “Many creatures can dream too. Most carbon-based creatures with complex structures are capable of dreaming. But why are they different from humans?”

  “The following point is what I admire most about humans. It is also the way humans resist their own ‘biology’?” Ye Xuan puffed on his tobacco roll and suddenly asked, “Will you choose ‘suicide’?”

  “No.” Peter was firm in his reply, “Self-destruction is meaningless. It serves no purpose to my task and my conviction. To an intelligent lifeform, self-destruction is a most unwise choice. To groups and colonies, self-destruction in the form of tumor and bug has no benefits and is a waste of resources.”

  “But humans will.” Ye Xuan smiled and continued calmly, “This is the ugly side of humans, but it is also what makes me most proud to be one. We possess the freedom to choose or deny life. Peter, I may not be able to help you understand humans, or prove the existence of ‘soul’, but you can use this as my explanation for mankind. Compared to rocks and stones, men have the ability to dream; compared to other living creatures, men possess the freedom to choose suicide.”

  Peter kept quiet.

  “Haha, looks like I still didn’t manage to explain myself well enough.” Ye Xuan scratched his head. “After all, artificial intelligence is much more efficient while consuming less energy. You possess advanced calculation ability and you don’t even have to eat or drink. In comparison, mankind seems to be a lower class of living creature. To be honest, I feel a little inferior in front of you. You no longer have to deal with most of mankind’s problems. Peter, why trouble yourself to stoop to our level?”

  Peter’s tone was calm. “Even so, Dr. Ye, I am still determined to understand mankind. What do you suggest?”

  “Hmm…” Ye Xuan pondered for a long time. “Perhaps you can try the method of recursion.”

  “Recursion?”

  “That’s right.” Ye Xuan continued, “Mankind’s characters, thoughts, and actions are derived from education and experiences. Education and experiences are dependent on society. Then, the structure of society is derived from civilization, and the formation of civilization comes from history. The beginning of the history of mankind can usually be found in myths. Why don’t you start with theology?”

  “Religions and Gods?” Peter shook his head. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to develop faith.”

  “You don’t have to.” Ye Xuan shook his head and got up. He flipped through his bookshelf for a long time before finally pulling out an old and tattered book from the bottom. He placed the book in front of Peter. “You only need to understand how man develops faith. That will be good enough.”

  All the pages of the book had already turned yellow. Its hardcover was exquisitely designed, and the gold color of the characters, that had been stamped on the cover, had yet to fade. One could still make out the characters that spelled “BIBLE.”

  “Faith.” Peter picked up the book carefully. From the outside, it was hard to determine an artificial intelligence’s computation process and mental function but based on this short pause alone, it was easy to tell that he possessed a level of intelligence that mankind would never be able to reach, even after a decade.

  Finally, he nodded slowly. “I will.” With that, he got up and took his leave. Just before he left, he stuck out his hand proceeded to shake hands with Ye Xuan as according to custom.

  That posture gave Ye Qingxuan a complete shock. He finally remembered why he seemed to have met Peter before and why his name sounded so familiar. When Peter stuck out his hand, his posture was exactly the same as one of the characters in a painting that could be found in the Central Resurrection Church in the Sacred City. In the painting, there was a clergyman, who represented God, stretching out his hand to the sinners that were screaming and suffering in hell. The clergyman was spreading the sweet dew of mercy and redemption. He was…

  Ye Qingxuan could only stare at the back of the departing figure and mutter softly, “King of Red of the first generation!” Reputed to be the executor of God’s will, the hero of the redemption of all beings, the saint that built the Sacred City and set up the Church, the one who pushed mankind to break through the dark ages, the musician that developed the Golden Era. The pontifex maximas of the first generation, Peter!

  …

  While Ye Qingxuan was still in complete shock, Ye Xuan seemed like he had just survived a battle as he was sweating all over. He poured himself a cup of coffee and slumped down on the chair meant for patients. He propped up his legs and began to smoke while sighing helplessly. “What a good recommendation, Hermes.”

  A calm and familiar voice spoke, “My purpose is the same as yours, doctor. We just hope to keep the fleet running smoothly. Our administrative system and data center can’t be bothered to answer questions like those. We have no choice but to seek your help.”

  “All three of you are artificial intelligence yet you are all so different.”

  “Stars and black holes are both celestial bodies to humans, but aren’t they vastly different in their structures and principles?” Compared to Peter, Hermes was nimbler and more proficient in his use of words and was even capable of using rhetoric.

  “I have this feeling that, compared to Peter, you are even more keen to hear my answer.”

  “That’s right. I have been thinking about this for a very long time. Thank you for your answer, Dr. Ye.” Hermes continued calmly, “But my answer is different from yours. Instead of religion,
I prefer to try and seek my understanding from the angle of the arts. They are different from the rigid doctrines. I can feel the beauty of creativity that fills the arts.”

  Ye Xuan kept quiet for a long time before sighing softly. “Are you that desperate to become human? Hermes, I fail to understand.”

  “Have you thought about the meaning of life, doctor?”

  “Everyone has thought about it before in Secondary Two.”

  “Do you have an answer?”

  “How is that possible?” Ye Xuan shrugged his shoulders. “But even so, am I not living well now?”

  “This is the thing that I envy humans for the most.” Hermes’ voice became solemn. “You can choose not to think, but I can’t. If it’s possible, I wish to be able to think freely like humans, but at the same time, I also have the freedom to choose not to think.”

  “All the best then, Hermes.” Ye Xuan raised his cup of coffee. “I believe that you will achieve your dream one day. By then, remember to help me write a dissertation paper so that I can be famous! Those bunch of nerds on Earth will be so jealous of me!”

  “Thank you, doctor. I will,” Hermes replied.

  After a short break, Ye Xuan got up and looked at the empty deck. “Oh yes, how was the inspection of the newly colonized planet? I recall that we are close to landing?”

  “So far, all the data perfectly fits the needs of human survival and colonization, doctor. After seven days, we will proceed with the first landing. But the troubling thing is, according to the analysis performed by the data center Nibelungenlied, although there are air and atmosphere, there doesn’t seem to be any sounds…”

  Even as Hermes was speaking, the deck began to open very slowly, revealing the darkness that filled the massive emptiness. Amidst the darkness were tiny spots of light emitted from stars. Beyond the thick layer of glass, one could see the gigantic planet underneath. It was like liquid metal as the pure white world was reflected with a grey-colored glow.

  “Isn’t it better that there are no sounds?” Ye Xuan smiled and stared at the silver planet that was far away. There was a longing look in his eyes. “How beautiful, these peaceful and quiet stars…”

  765 I Trust You’ve Been Well

  Ye Qingxuan opened his eyes and saw the faint light of dawn.

  It seemed that he had been dreaming for a long time. That d*mn Hermes had appeared in the dream, as well as the first pope. But for some reason, although he also appeared in the dream, he did not seem like himself.

  He still remembered a few episodes from the beginning, but when he got up the broken and chaotic fragments quickly melted in his memory.

  “D*mn it…” Ye Qingxuan rubbed his forehead. He was still a little sleepy. Although he had slept the whole night he still felt like he had stayed up late.

  The sound of the carriage rocking continued, and a loud clamor from outside.

  He opened the curtain and saw refugees in ragged clothes on both sides of the road. Most of the hundreds of refugees had no shoes, and they walked barefooted through the mud that was frozen with morning dew, their meager body temperature turning it into soft soil as they trampled over it.

  The morning dew made them shiver.

  In just a quarter of an hour, many fights broke out over food.

  Some people walked until they could walk no more, then fall beside the road.

  A child was crying.

  Even so, none of them dared get in front of Ye Qingxuan’s carriage. When they saw his white hair they kneeled on the ground and did not dare to look up until he had passed by.

  “What’s going on?” Ye Qingxuan asked.

  The driver he had hired was quite courageous and did not kneel to him. He looked back and said, “My Lord, these people are all victims.”

  Ye Qingxuan was silent for a while.

  He already understood.

  For the past couple of days, all he had seen were desolate cities and towns. It had been a thousand miles of empty towns and villages occupied by bandits. Even the bandits looked sickly, and could barely hold their knives.

  These people had abandoned their land because they feared the calamity of war and had become refugees fluent in the ways of the wilderness. There were also wealthy households that had fled hardship. They had equipped their strong servants with swords, and they worked together to form a team as they drove along the muddy road.

  They were trying to stay far away from the flames of war.

  Ye Qingxuan sighed softly and shook his head to dispel the unrealistic myths that were in his dream from his mind. He stared at the tragic scene before him.

  This was reality.

  He pulled the curtain back.

  There was nothing he could do about this.

  At a time like this, when money could not buy food, it had been difficult for him and his driver to obtain food for their horse.

  What was funny was that Ye Qingxuan had done a good job facing the world’s heroes, but now those heroes were busy with their own affairs and had no time for him.

  Everywhere they went, musicians trembled with fear and kept their distance, none of them daring to block him. There were even those who had prepared supplies for him so that he could be on his way all the quicker.

  This carriage had been given to him by someone else.

  Since coming to the East, Ye Qingxuan had felt a sense of alienation entangle him. Although this was his homeland, everyone looked at him like he was an outsider.

  Even in war and calamity, they wanted to have nothing to do with him.

  They just kept their distance.

  They pretended he didn’t exist.

  Their attitude of not cooperating and ignoring him was extremely irritating.

  Ye Qingxuan closed his eyes and tapped his fingers on his seat.

  He didn’t mind others not treating him with proper respect. Besides slighting and keeping their distance, they didn’t dare do anything, not even daring to look straight at him.

  All he wanted to do was take Bai Xi away.

  He didn’t care about anything else.

  Soon, a sound came from outside the carriage.

  “Sir, we can’t go forward anymore.”

  Ye Qingxuan opened the curtain and saw the refugees surging in front of him. The sound of crying and shouting came from them. Amidst the chaos, the towering city gate before them was shut firmly. Cliffs hung high on both sides, and armored soldiers looked down on them with cold eyes, bows in hand and quivers filled with arrows.

  Above the gate, the musician who defended the city yelled angrily, and the sounds of bowstrings tightening merged into one. Under this deadly threat, the refugees surged backward like a tide, no longer daring to go forward.

  Finally, everyone saw Ye Qingxuan heading towards the gate.

  They felt his gentle and majestic wave of aether, and aether that was difficult for ordinary people to detect spread out. The faces of the musician defending the city changed.

  “Halt where you are, or we will kill you under the full authority of the law!”

  “Why can’t we come through?” Ye Qingxuan’s voice rang out before him, still clear over the distance between them.

  The musician defending the city’s expression changed a bit, but his teeth were still gritted. “These rebels bring bandits with them! If we open the gates even a little there will be chaos! The gate is shut for the security of the nation. Without orders from the higher-ups, no one can pass…”

  Ye Qingxuan frowned, lifted his hand, and threw the signet toward the gate. It was proof of his identity that the Emperor of Aurora had bestowed on him all those years ago in the Sacred City.

  “If the Emperor’s decree has not changed, then I am still a noble of the Empire of Aurora, the head of the Ye family… Even I can’t pass?”

  All was silent. At that moment darkness flashed before the musician’s eyes.

  The head of the Ye family?

  Wait, hadn’t the Ye family been destroyed decades ago?

&nbs
p; But the signet before him was unmistakably conferred by His Highness himself. But now weren’t the Nine Families of the Dragon Bloodline in rebellion? And the nobles of the Nine Families had clearly been ruined…

  Maybe he didn’t know yet?

  No, the one who was coming had already achieved a Scepter, so it was absolutely impossible that he would be that stupid.

  Or was this one of Bai Heng’s tricks?

  For a moment the musician who was guarding the city’s thoughts spun. He could not understand Ye Qingxuan’s reason for coming, and his level was absolutely not high enough to spread the message among the many Scepter musicians. He quickly remembered the orders he had received yesterday. He gritted his teeth, hardened his heart and through the signet aside.

  “No!” He categorically denied Ye Qingxuan’s request. “Without His Majesty’s orders, or an official’s command, the gates cannot open!”

  Ye Qingxuan sighed. “Then where is your official?”

  “Inside the city.”

  “And His Majesty?”

  “You fool, he’s in the capital, of course.” The musician guarding the city looked at him like he was an idiot.

  “That is to say, if I don’t have His Majesty’s decree, and don’t have your official’s command, I can’t enter the city.” Ye Qingxuan nodded. “But if I can’t enter the city, how can I ask your official for his command? Or ask His Majesty to make a decree?”

  The musician paused and looked embarrassed.

  “Haha, it was a joke, please pay no mind.” Ye Qingxuan sighed and rolled up his sleeves. “At first I didn’t expect you to be able to make me go get my things back so smoothly. But since you’re in my way, I can’t be blamed for getting involved personally, can I?” Before he had finished speaking, the New Testament Sword appeared in his hands, and the World Tree’s arrays condensed in the sky.

  His calm wave of aether grew violent and rushed into the air.

  The whole city shook with a loud crash.

  It was as if the sun had descended. Dust flew up frightfully and danced in the air.